On August 2, 2025, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), carrying four astronauts—Americans Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. Launched from Florida aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, this marks NASA’s 11th crew rotation mission under its Commercial Crew Programme.
Crew-11 will spend six months aboard the ISS, where they will simulate lunar landing scenarios near the Moon’s South Pole for NASA’s Artemis programme. They’ll also test how gravity affects spacecraft piloting. The mission includes agricultural experiments, such as studying Armenian pomegranates in microgravity.
The ISS, continuously inhabited since 2000, remains a hub for international cooperation and space exploration research. Though originally slated for retirement in 2024, NASA now believes it could remain operational until 2030.